The bands who went past their sell-by date, and then reversed...
EMBRACE Want proof that Chris Martin is currently the most powerful man in the music business this side of Simon Cowell? Look no further. The 'Brace were originally a post-Oasis big, heartfelt Britpop ballad kind of band. They had a hit album, then ran into the sharp end of Liam and Noel Gallagher's tongues and, their career fatally gored, quietly vanished two albums later. Enter Mr Coldplay, whose kiss of life came in the form of the song 'Gravity'. Suddenly they're having hit singles again, and their comeback album entered the charts at No.1. The Bluetones must be the Greentones with envy right now...
DURAN DURAN Back in the '80s, this lot were Westlife, McFly AND Girls Aloud all rolled into one multi-headed pop beast (easy there, pop pervs, it's not real). They had massive hits all over the world and made their videos on expensive yachts. Then it all went a bit strange. Band members started leaving, and their name shrank from Duran Duran, to duranduran (a trick Limp Bi..ah..limpbizkit also employed) to Duran. Had they lost any more members at that point, odds are they'd have wound up being called Dur. But luckily they all came back, and so did their hits. There's a lesson here for you, Charlie Busted!
HANSON Granted, this lot are all still younger than many of our current stars - even the new ones - but their long pop career, starting as freakishly talented performing youngsters on 'MmmBop', means they qualify as proper comeback kings. The weirdest thing about the return of the Hanson fellas is that they've clearly undergone the, ah, complete set of physical life changes you'd expect from boys who've grown into men [blushes furiously], and yet they sound EXACTLY the same as they always did. Are you guys on helium or what?
ATOMIC KITTEN A year ago, you could have put money on the fact that Atomic Kitten were definitely not going to be coming back, ever. Tash had fallen out with Jenny and Liz, Jenny was taking little pot shots in the press at any female pop star she could see, and Liz vanished to work on her solo album before her record contract disappeared. Then the charity World Vision asked them to put a fund-raising single out in aid of famine relief, and suddenly the feline threesome were back together and singing a song from their first album as if nothing had happened. Which begs the question, is there a worthy cause big enough that would get Kerry Katona back in the group?
DESTINY'S CHILD Oh sure, NOW it looks like they were always gonna get back together. But if you recall when Beyonce stormed the charts with 'Crazy In Love', just after Kelly and Nelly had done their stuff on the telly, nobody (apart from a slightly-panicked Michelle) could see much of a future for the boundary-smashing R'n'B four/two/four/three-piece. "Why would Beyonce go back to the Child now?" asked a worried pop public, before adding "it's like Ronan all over again!" Thankfully a song as good as 'Lose My Breath' can't be ignored for long, even by a booty-shaking diva-babe with a hip hop hubby (to be).
EMBRACE
Want proof that Chris Martin is currently the most powerful man in the music business this side of Simon Cowell? Look no further. The 'Brace were originally a post-Oasis big, heartfelt Britpop ballad kind of band. They had a hit album, then ran into the sharp end of Liam and Noel Gallagher's tongues and, their career fatally gored, quietly vanished two albums later. Enter Mr Coldplay, whose kiss of life came in the form of the song 'Gravity'. Suddenly they're having hit singles again, and their comeback album entered the charts at No.1. The Bluetones must be the Greentones with envy right now...
DURAN DURAN
Back in the '80s, this lot were Westlife, McFly AND Girls Aloud all rolled into one multi-headed pop beast (easy there, pop pervs, it's not real). They had massive hits all over the world and made their videos on expensive yachts. Then it all went a bit strange. Band members started leaving, and their name shrank from Duran Duran, to duranduran (a trick Limp Bi..ah..limpbizkit also employed) to Duran. Had they lost any more members at that point, odds are they'd have wound up being called Dur. But luckily they all came back, and so did their hits. There's a lesson here for you, Charlie Busted!
HANSON
Granted, this lot are all still younger than many of our current stars - even the new ones - but their long pop career, starting as freakishly talented performing youngsters on 'MmmBop', means they qualify as proper comeback kings. The weirdest thing about the return of the Hanson fellas is that they've clearly undergone the, ah, complete set of physical life changes you'd expect from boys who've grown into men [blushes furiously], and yet they sound EXACTLY the same as they always did. Are you guys on helium or what?
ATOMIC KITTEN
A year ago, you could have put money on the fact that Atomic Kitten were definitely not going to be coming back, ever. Tash had fallen out with Jenny and Liz, Jenny was taking little pot shots in the press at any female pop star she could see, and Liz vanished to work on her solo album before her record contract disappeared. Then the charity World Vision asked them to put a fund-raising single out in aid of famine relief, and suddenly the feline threesome were back together and singing a song from their first album as if nothing had happened. Which begs the question, is there a worthy cause big enough that would get Kerry Katona back in the group?
DESTINY'S CHILD
Oh sure, NOW it looks like they were always gonna get back together. But if you recall when Beyonce stormed the charts with 'Crazy In Love', just after Kelly and Nelly had done their stuff on the telly, nobody (apart from a slightly-panicked Michelle) could see much of a future for the boundary-smashing R'n'B four/two/four/three-piece. "Why would Beyonce go back to the Child now?" asked a worried pop public, before adding "it's like Ronan all over again!" Thankfully a song as good as 'Lose My Breath' can't be ignored for long, even by a booty-shaking diva-babe with a hip hop hubby (to be).
